Hansen Natural sued by investor
From Times Wire Services
Hansen Natural Corp., the maker of soda and Monster Energy drinks, was sued by a shareholder who accused company directors of wasting corporate assets by backdating stock options given executives.
Company executives, including Chief Executive Rodney Sacks and President Hilton Schlosberg, misrepresented financial results and diverted “hundreds of millions of dollars” of corporate assets to themselves by manipulating the grant dates on options, California resident Eli Alama said in a complaint filed Thursday.
“We believe these claims have no substance,” Sacks said of the suit.
Hansen announced May 14 that “unintentional” accounting errors related to option grants over a five-year period led to a $1-million understatement of compensation costs.
